Riyadh region suffers severe shortage of classrooms

An official said Riyadh region’s Education Department is facing a shortage school buildings and many classes are overcrowded.
Riyadh Education Assistant Director for Educational Affairs Mohammad Al-Sudairi said that implementing an evening classes system would be a solution to this problem. Pupils in one classroom can number 40.
Ministry of Finance has allocated SR 1 billion for the department to buy additional lands for building a number of schools.
Al-Sudairi was speaking after attending a National Day celebration at Prince Salman Social Center on Wednesday. The celebration was organized by Qurtuba District’s Education Office’s schools.
He said rented building schools in some areas like Assahafa and Wadi Laban were closed one year after opening because of student overcrowding and because there are no other buildings available for use as schools in these areas.
Schools in Riyadh number 1,000, he said, adding that 35 percent of rented building schools were replaced in the region; 21 percent of them were replaced countrywide, he said.
The number of boy and girl pupils in Riyadh Education schools is more than 1.5 million. There are more than 2,500 schools and about 80,000 teachers.
Meanwhile, the department has nominated 69 teachers to work in primary and intermediate-grade gifted pupils program as coordinators on part-time basis.
Their tasks include forming and implementing the activities of schools’ gifted students’ committees and organize thinking-skills training courses for students and teachers.